"I think we're still facing the brand and I'm delighted that we're facing the brand that is UConn," the Saint Joe's coach said. "When the name popped up for our team (on Selection Sunday), our players in their lifetime have seen UConn hang three banners. I just have to remind our guys that Kemba Walker is not playing. And Rudy Gay is not playing and Ray Allen is not playing and Emeka Okafor is not playing. They have a whole other cast of players who are of that ilk."

The opportunity to play the seventh-seeded Huskies even helped Martelli prepare his team for Thursday night's game at the First Niagara Center (6:55 p.m. TBS).

"I really do think it helped get us over the celebratory hangover we had on Monday," he said.

NEW BEGINNING: UConn's senior class of Shabazz Napier, Niels Giffey and Tyler Olander have seven games of postseason experience and junior guard Ryan Boatright has one.

Junior DeAndre Daniels also appeared -- for two minutes -- in the 2012 loss to Iowa State, but considers this tournament a new start for him.

"I really didn't get to play much," said Daniels, who has led UConn in the postseason with 14.7-point and 8.0-rebound averages. "I'm kind of considering this as my first time going around in the NCAA tournament."

The Huskies need Daniels to be a fast study, because the 6-foot-9 forward has been a matchup problem all season when his game is on.

MUSHROOM HEAD: Saint Joe's freshman DeAndre Bembry might have hair like Dr. J, but his reputation with the Hawks this season has been more about substance than style.

The 1980's afro like Sixers' great Julius Erving gets him noticed on the court, but the 6-6 Bembry earned the Atlantic 10 Co-Rookie of the Year for being a lockdown defender and is also third on the Hawks in scoring (12 ppg).

"He's done a lot," Saint Joe's senior Langston Galloway said. "He's the defensive stopper on our team this year. He's made big buckets in crucial situations. He's able to attack the basket, which definitely gives the perimeter guys a little more room to operate."

ONE AND 1,000: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim took a trip down memory lane and talked about the future during his press conference.

With 947 career wins coming into the NCAA tournament's second-round game with Western Michigan, if Boeheim hangs around a few more years -- he's given no indication he won't -- 1,000 victories is a realistic possibility.

"I don't think about it," he said. "When you are at 100 and you look at (876, Adolph Rupp) or whatever it was and you think that's not happening -- that's 20 wins a year for 40 years to get to 800. ¦ (But) yeah, the number is always there. It's kind of back there, the back of your mind."

Even though Boeheim has been on the sidelines for 38 seasons with the Orange, he still remembers his team's first trip to the NCAA tournament in 1977. Syracuse beat Tennessee in overtime 93-88 to open the tourney in Baton Rouge, La., but lost to Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell and Charlotte in the second game, 81-59.